"That's it, men..." With a deep sigh, the general looked up and down the row of soldiers. They were all remarkably silent after he had asked for volunteers. "I know it's a suicide mission," continued the general, "but someone's gotta do it. Someone who can handle an aircraft well. Someone with fast reaction speed. A hero." You noticed him holding his eyes on you. You looked down to the ground when your eyes met his. "What about you, Caruso? NOW is the time to be brave, instead of being brave behind my back!" You wondered. Had he seen you making rude signs when he turned his back at you after having ordered you to clean the toilets? A giggle went through the lines; the others had guessed your thoughts. "Well, what about you?" whispered someone behind you, "Now's your chance to get out of here! Take it!"

"Sir!" The general turned as you stepped forward. A network of wrinkles appeared on his forehead while wondering what might have brought you to this monumentary decision. "So you decided to show us some REAL bravery, eh, Caruso? You really thought I would even for a moment consider sending you?!" The look on your face saddened. Had you made a fool of yourself or was the general playing one of his tricks? Now you thought of it, it would be very nice if the general wouldn't let you go on this mission into the "Star Killer". At least, your mates would not accuse you of being chicken. "You were right, my dear Caruso," followed the general, "I have indeed considered sending you. Had it not been voluntary, I would have made sure you went anyway." The general produced a loud, bulky laugh that was heard throughout the hall, and some of your mates could hardly suppress their laughter either. But you realised that there wasn't anything particularly funny about it at all. "You're found fit for the job, Caruso. At 12:00 hours you will leave for the enemy battle cruiser." After this, the general started talking officially: "Men! The fate of the world is upon this man, Paul Caruso. If he will fail, the earth and its entire solar system will die. If he will succeed, there is but a tiny chance that he will ever return back to his loved ones to be received as a hero. Go to your quarters now, and let's just hope that he will indeed complete his mission: Destroying the 'Star Killer'!"

Everybody cheered as you went to the docking bay; a small, single-seated craft was located there. This was the craft with which you would have to penetrate the biggest battle cruiser ever: The "Star Killer" that was as big as a planet and on its way to destroy our sun - and consequently destroy earth. You were the only living person that could save mankind. Quite a responsible job.

*****

In Mastertronic's "Sidewinder", you become the pilot that has to fulfil this sheer impossible task. You have to fight your way through five decks that are heavily armoured and armed - on your way to destroy the control room of the biggest battle cruiser ever: The "Star Killer".

There are a couple of dozen of these vertical shoot-'em-up games for the Atari ST on the market at the moment, and "Sidewinder" is definitely not 'just one of those'. Apart from the fact that "Sidewinder" uses a screen that is extended both to the left and the right (scrolling to these directions when needed), the smooth animation, incredibly varying enemies/graphics and superb (digitized) sound effects make the game one of the better ones in its class.

Just after starting up, one hears some of the potentially best music ever made on any home computer - a tune that I knew from the Commodore 64 and that was included in a game called "Panther" (by David Whittaker). But I did not use the word 'potentially' for nothing: The ST version uses a digitized version of this tune, taken from the Amiga version. The tune is digitized in several pieces and very clumsily remixed - that spoils the tune and it made me feel quite sick (one of the BEST musical pieces ever made, converted in such a sickening fashion!). A good listener will still be able to recognize some of the mentioned potential, however.

In the game, you control the craft and you have to attack the "Star Killer" ship. Game control is excellent, and the digital sound effects make it just as good as "Leatherneck". You can just blast your way through everything, and the explosions and animations are pretty neat, too.

"Sidewinder" is an exceptional vertical scroller, one that belongs in the same ranks as "Goldrunner" and games like that. It's a pity that the music has been converted so utterly clumsy, otherwise this game would have been MUCH more appealing. It's incredibly LOW price makes it a giga-bargain!

* = The high sound rating is due to the superb sound effects during gameplay and the high potential of the sound. It would no doubt have been a 9.5 or maybe a 10- if the conversion hadn't been so ghastly.

Many thanks to Mr. Harry van Horen of Homesoft, Holland, for sending the review copy of the game. It's great, and nearly made me fail on my school exams.....